Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Poncho, any survey that has North Carolina ahead of CT and Louisiana ahead of NY for tolerance is got to be dismissed.
I take many articles with a grain of salt. Been reading those "Best 10 places to live" articles for 40+ years. If you moved to one, the next 5 years or more you would most likely not be in a "Best 10 places to live"
I had a caveat:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poncho_NM
I expected more samples from various organizations but everything I found appeared to be based on the above article. So, for whatever it is worth...
I take many articles with a grain of salt. Been reading those "Best 10 places to live" articles for 40+ years. If you moved to one, the next 5 years or more you would most likely not be in a "Best 10 places to live"
I had a caveat:
You did indeed caveat your post. I just had to point out how ridiculous the survey is. It makes you wonder what kind of reality checks the authors performed.
I will say that New Mexico is mostly a very great place for the gay community. I had a few troubles in Portales, but not as much as you might think. Anyhow, ABQ and Santa Fe are totally cool places, especially I'd imagine for retiring in. Albuquerque is generally warmer than Santa Fe by a few degrees, and even if they're both cold at the same time, there's a much smaller chance that there will be snow in Albuquerque. Las Cruces is warmer still than Albuquerque, but It'd be my least favorite place of the three due to personal biases. It is, however, close to El Paso which is a nice city as well if you needed some urban retreats. As for culture, I've had some good experiences in Albuquerque with the symphony, but also the Church of Beethoven, which I believe is now called "Chatter Sunday" at the Kosmos on 5th Street.
For what it's worth, despite the cold, my upstate-New York bred father doesn't mind the cold here so much because there's a lack of snow which he appreciates. No more shoveling.
Do not move here if you want warm winters (it gets seriously cold here), or if you think you can replace the NYC cultural/arts scene with this one. The Santa Fe Opera is world-class, ranked second in the US to the Met, but its season is only in the summer because it is a summer venue for singers, musicians, and crew who are on break from other opera companies around the world.
Santa Fe and ABQ also offer very good chamber music series which bring in guest artists from around the world. Otherwise the local classical musicians are grouped into a limited number of organizations and you see the same faces in most of them. The main symphony orchestras in Albuquerque and Santa Fe are comprised mostly of the same personnel. The New Mexico Symphony (based in ABQ), like many other groups, went bankrupt a few years ago and has regrouped as the New Mexico Philharmonic on a low budget with more limited programming. I am not much of a ballet- or theater-lover so can't speak to those.
So it depends on how important your current cultural life is to you and whether or not you can replace some of that with different activities to keep you entertained. The New Mexico culture and landscape are completely different and will require a radical re-adjustment for you if you have always lived where you do now. I'm a native New Yorker but grew to detest NY and yearned for something totally different, and have found what I was looking for here.
You may have read that Armistead Maupin (author of the gay classics Tales of the City) left San Francisco a couple of years ago because it had changed so much from the city he loved. He moved to Santa Fe, but I haven't heard anything about how he likes it there or if he stayed. For many people, Santa Fe is not the city they used to love either, so they moved to Albuquerque or other places.
Santa Fe, Taos & other areas of northern NM have quite a spectrum of alternative lifestyles, so that should not be much of an issue.
I think aries made some good points as to cultural aspects. Perhaps come out here summer and winter to get a feel for the area. Lots of casita rentals with kitchens when you can spend extended time getting a true feel for the area.
Coming during winter would give you a feel for the cold & in summer for the heat. It is a dry cold & dry heat, so quite different from east humidity. Then again the dryness doesn't work for some, as well as the lack of lush green.
Being able to hike for hours on a Saturday in some gorgeous place without seeing more than two or three people is a luxury you're unlikely to find in too many other places in the US.
It's disappointing that parts of this country still have not overcome their prejudices. Yet, given individual proclivities and the resultant political pandering, I guess it's not too surprising. I was attending NYU in the Village during the Stonewall Riot days and New York City didn't seem like a very tolerant place back then. We've come a long way as a society, but we're not there yet.
Insofar as Santa Fe is concerned, I am somewhat surprised when same-sex couples ask whether they will be accepted here. Based on what I hear from my same-sex clients, it was largely due to Santa Fe being so gay-friendly - in addition to our cultural advantages - that they decided to move here. The buzz about Santa Fe's attractiveness seems to be all over the GLBT community. Talk about being integrated into the fabric of the community! Does that mean that there are zero Neanderthals here? Absolutely not; but they are largely irrelevant.
As for cultural venues and opportunities, part of the frustration is that there's more to do than time to do them.
And the weather? Well, it gets cold here. When I tell my brother in Florida that it's in the 40's today, he shivers over the phone and says he couldn't live where it gets so cold. Huh? And when it gets into the the teens - primarily late at night and in the wee hours of the morning - I'm usually in bed under a down comforter!
It's disappointing that parts of this country still have not overcome their prejudices. Yet, given individual proclivities and the resultant political pandering, I guess it's not too surprising. I was attending NYU in the Village during the Stonewall Riot days and New York City didn't seem like a very tolerant place back then. We've come a long way as a society, but we're not there yet.
Insofar as Santa Fe is concerned, I am somewhat surprised when same-sex couples ask whether they will be accepted here. Based on what I hear from my same-sex clients, it was largely due to Santa Fe being so gay-friendly - in addition to our cultural advantages - that they decided to move here. The buzz about Santa Fe's attractiveness seems to be all over the GLBT community. Talk about being integrated into the fabric of the community! Does that mean that there are zero Neanderthals here? Absolutely not; but they are largely irrelevant.
As for cultural venues and opportunities, part of the frustration is that there's more to do than time to do them.
And the weather? Well, it gets cold here. When I tell my brother in Florida that it's in the 40's today, he shivers over the phone and says he couldn't live where it gets so cold. Huh? And when it gets into the the teens - primarily late at night and in the wee hours of the morning - I'm usually in bed under a down comforter!
It's not the temperature that bothers me (except for really cold meaning below freezing). It's snow and ice. I actually like a sunny winter day. If it rarely snows and day temperatures in the winters are above freezing, that would be fine with me.
As for culture, we are accustomed to the Metropolitan Opera, NYC Ballet, and all of that Lincoln Center has to offer. We also go to Broadway shows regularly. Not sure how the offerings in Santa Fe compare.
As for being gay, I get that there are problems everywhere (the only place I was ever close to being bashed was in the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC). I meant that since marriage equality is new to NM, I wanted to hear from residents what it is like "on the ground".
It's not the temperature that bothers me (except for really cold meaning below freezing). It's snow and ice. I actually like a sunny winter day. If it rarely snows and day temperatures in the winters are above freezing, that would be fine with me.
Santa Fe Right now 07:29, 22°F, FEELS LIKE 11°
Albuquerque now 07:29, 25°F, FEELS LIKE 25°
Rio Rancho now 07:29, 25°F, FEELS LIKE 19° (Spectacular Sun Rise)
Sunrise at 07:04, Today, Rio Rancho. straight out of the camera photo:
Quote:
Originally Posted by pietrang
As for culture, we are accustomed to the Metropolitan Opera, NYC Ballet, and all of that Lincoln Center has to offer. We also go to Broadway shows regularly. Not sure how the offerings in Santa Fe compare.
Santa Fe would be the best place in New Mexico for that, but it does not compare to NYC...
Quote:
Originally Posted by pietrang
As for being gay, I get that there are problems everywhere. I meant that since marriage equality is new to NM, I wanted to hear from residents what it is like "on the ground".
It's not a problem. The "State Wide" marriage issue did not really change anything (There were marriages in other counties, Sandoval County several years ago). The big issue, all of New Mexico, every county, now knows how to handle it. Some people just do not fit in New Mexico... It happens everywhere. My family, friends have no issue.
Marriage as an institution has been around in NM for quite a long time. Nothing new.
Love that sunrise pic!!!!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
